High response to eAccessibility survey
The European Commission has published the results of its January public consultation on the need for 'e-Accessibility' measures to ensure older people and people with disabilities can benefit from information and communication technologies (ICT). The results illustrate the importance awarded to public procurement contracts by stakeholders. According to 90 per cent of respondents, requirements to make ICT goods and services accessible to all should be laid down in public procurement contracts. The respondents, who comprised public agencies, ICT goods and service suppliers, universities, business associations and user groups, felt that the Commission should take the lead in proposing those measures. Stakeholders also felt that that ICT goods and services need to be made more interoperable, and that technical requirements should be harmonised within and beyond the EU for this purpose. Although the survey indicated strong support for some sort of product certification or a 'labelling' scheme, respondents were divided on whether this scheme should be voluntary, mandatory, or rely on self-certification with checks. 'This was our first online public consultation on eAccessibility, and the response has far exceeded our expectations, across all target groups,' stated Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information and Media. 'The observations submitted by experts and stakeholders provide clear social, ethical, and economic grounds for pursuing our efforts to bring the benefits of ICT to the 90 million EU citizens who are currently unable to reap them in full. Making the information society accessible for all is for me both a social necessity and an economic objective. The more accessible new technologies can be made, the bigger the potential markets for them,' she added. The Commission's eAccessibility policy is aimed at removing barriers caused by inappropriate design of ICT products and services, particularly for people with disabilities and the elderly. It relies on various instruments to achieve voluntary harmonisation of Member States' rules while at the same time encouraging industry initiatives. Additional measures aim to foster the development of technical standards enhancing accessibility, teach eSkills, increase 'design for all' practices, develop web accessibility implementation, encourage EU Member States to share good practice, and stimulate accessibility research and technological development in the ICT field. Further proposals to improve eAccessibility will be set out in a Commission communication scheduled for September 2005.